Taxes

Yep,
It's mid April, I'm classified as self-employed and the taxes are done. One of the real wonders of being self employed is knowing how much we pay in every year (from just one of two people) to keep the Federal and State Bureaucracies running for another year. It's not a small sum that we pay in every quarter either; but I'm not complaining. I appreciate the public facilities that we count on more and more each year. The hard part is asking if the rest of the republic feels the same way.

I've just got to print and mail and the taxes are done for me and my beloved. Still the question rumbles around in my head,
is everybody pleased with where all the money goes?

We need to have a national family money meeting. It works for many families to sit down and face the bills and dreams head on together. It might be tough as a nation because it has to happen in two very distinct parts of our republic. We need an intervention for the debt addicted private equity firms on Wall Street (see Business Week April 14) who are creating capital for a few by saddling future investors with debt and robbing companies of the capital they need to compete in the same vulture like action.

We need an wake up call for both parties in Washington. Both seem certain that somebody else can foot the bill at a later date for our current spending and bail out for financial institutions in crisis. I wouldn't oppose a bailout if it meant regulation for the financial services industry; I figure if our tax dollars are going to help clean up this mess that the greedy have made for themselves (and the rest of us) we ought to expect something tangible and lasting (like regulation of mortgages and mortgage backed securities) in return.